Social Media

Facebook to Launch Advertising Through News Feed - WTH?

You'd think with all the controversy over the Facebook news feed and the recent decision to open up the site, Facebook might hold off the new stuff for a while. Not so. A tipster tells me that the company will roll out a new type of advertising on the site in the next few weeks - even worse, these "sponsored stories" will appear in the much-hated news feed.

You'll remember that News Feed basically provides a constantly updated list of the changes around your network - when your friends upload images, post comments and perform other actions, you get notified. Once the new ads go live, a banner or video advertisement will appear in the third position in your News Feed. When you click on the ad, you'll be given the chance to join the marketers group. The ads will include special offers - which I assume may be along the lines of the Facebook-iTunes deal. If that's the case, it may take the sting out of an otherwise terrible idea.

Of course social networks need to monetize their sites, but I just can't believe they're risking the ire of the Facebook community yet again. May I be the first to say: worst idea ever. The tragedy here is that Facebook users object to the changes because they love the site so much: Facebook wants to innovate rapidly, but the users are far more conservative.

Update: the Facebook folks mailed to say that your friends won't be notified when you click an ad. Nonetheless, ads are still coming to the Facebook news feed - something that's unlikely to go down well with the community.

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